Leave A Comment

Comics A.M. | Graphic India raises $2.8 million for mobile content

Business | Indian digital comics and animation producer Graphic India has raised $2.8 million in seed financing, led by CA Media, the Asian investment arm of the Chernin Group (which previously acquired “a large minority stake” in the company). Founded in 2013 as a subsidiary of Liquid Comics, Graphic India is perhaps best known for the Stan Lee-created Chakra: The Invincible. The funding will be used to create content in English, Hindi, Tamil and other Indian languages for mobile devices. [Variety]

Creators | Geoff Johns says he returned to Superman because he was interested in giving the Man of Steel a new confidante: “When I was just thinking about the character and thinking about the story possibilities, every time my brain started to picture him talking to somebody with a problem he was having … or dealing with Clark and Superman, it always was just with another superhero. I quickly realized [Superman] didn’t really have anyone normal in his life that he could talk to again, because no one knew his secret.” The other reason: The opportunity to work with John Romita Jr. [Comic Riffs]

Creators | Lucy Knisley talks about her two travelogues, An Age of License and Displacement. [Chicago Reader]

Creators | Wayne Vansant explains how he built a career working on war comics — starting at a time when they weren’t very popular. His first comic was Marvel’s The Nam, and since then he has worked on a number of other comics, including Normandy: A Graphic History of D-Day and Katusha. [War Is Boring]

Creators | Salem Wildfire discusses his webcomic Daughter of the Wolf, which is based on stories he makes up with his 5-year-old daughter Kenzie. It’s illustrated by Danielle Kukic. [Today]

Comics | Eric Ravenscroft has some suggestions for how to ease into long-running comics series without being overwhelmed and disoriented. [Lifehacker]

Conventions | The Heart of Texas comic con is coming to Waco, Texas, this weekend, and organizers are making a concerted effort to make it family-friendly, with free admission for children 10 and under and plenty of kid-friendly attractions. Last year’s con drew a crowd of 9,000, but a horror-themed event last fall didn’t do as well. [Waco Tribune-Herald]

Retailing | There is only one bookstore left in the Bronx, but several comics shops are thriving; the owners say it is because of the personal connection and the fact that comics readers like to check out new titles in physical format rather than ordering them online. [NY City Lens]

Exhibits | Christina Hennessy talks to Robert Reiner, whose collection of EC Comics is on display right now at the Flinn Gallery in Greenwich, Connecticut; the exhibit is titled “KA-POW! When Comics Imperiled America.” [Connecticut Post]

Exhibits | Kevin J. Kelley profiles New Yorker cartoonist Ed Koren, whose works are on display in the Luise Ross gallery in New York. [Seven Days]